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California’s 2022 Wildfire Season is Off to a Relatively Tame Start. Will It Last?

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael McGough

Blazes have burned thousands of acres, cued mandatory evacuations and threatened some of the state’s oldest and most impressive trees, but far fewer acres have burned in California wildfires through the first few weeks of summer than at the same point last year.

The tides may turn in the coming weeks as conditions stay hot and grow drier, but the numbers to date suggest the state may have averted a particularly nasty start to this wildfire season.

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Heat Wave This Week Will Intensify Fire Danger for Bay Area, Northern California

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Jakob Rogers

A pre-Memorial Day heat wave will prime the Bay Area for another dry fire season, roasting the region’s landscape with some of the hottest weather so far in 2022 and pushing temperatures in some cities close to 100 degrees.

A month ahead of the official start of summer, high temperatures could climb 5 to 20 degrees above normal on Tuesday and Wednesday for much of the Bay Area — a pre-Memorial Day blast of hot weather that prompted a heat advisory for the entire Central Valley and a red flag warning for a broad swath of Northern California stretching from Vallejo to Redding.

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High Winds, Heat Boost Fire Threat as California Faces Long Season

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Diana Leonard

Fire danger is on the rise in California, as warm, dry and windy weather heralds a potentially long and difficult season. For several consecutive years, increasingly extreme, climate-change fueled wildfires have devastated parts of the state.

The area of greatest concern late this week is in Northern California, where strong northerly winds will combine with dry vegetation in the Sacramento Valley, after temperatures soared to 100 degrees on Wednesday afternoon.

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Opinion: California’s Wildfire Warning and the Action We Need to Take

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Ashley Conrad-Saydah and Hugh Safford

When weather patterns and conditions develop that fuel extreme fire behavior, the National Weather Service issues what it calls a “Red Flag Warning.” In response, firefighters rapidly shift resources, beef up staffing and alert nearby communities. It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment to prepare for the worst – one we’ve become increasingly familiar with, even in winter months.

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